WoOah, time warp

As you may have realized my last post just now is perhaps a bit late. Three weeks late. I actually wrote it my first week here, and then preceded to leave it in the drafts folder and completely forget about it. I'll try and be better about this thing, though at the moment I don't have anything particular to write about. I guess these first few posts will be more a broad survey than anything. Expect more later on maybe?
So. Japan. It's different. Really different. But also the same. Very much the same. Allow me to elaborate. Things like food, waste disposal, mannerisms, transportation, toilets etc. are different. Things like drunk college students and partying and not wanting to go to class are the same.
First the trash, because that I think is what blew my mind my first couple weeks. The system for trash disposal is very strict. It kind of has to be, seeing as there's not a whole lot of room for it. So they burn what they can, and the rest falls under either recyclable or a mysterious mishmash of OTHER. I'm not sure what happens to OTHER as of yet. But basically every individual is expected to sort through his/her respective trash, dispersing it amongst such categories as burnable and raw, plastic bottles, plastic trash (often labelled as this OTHER trash), and cans/aluminum. If the article you wish to throw out has bits belonging to different bins, you're supposed to take it apart. And if you don't, they know. They always know. And then it becomes this problem because the trash guys won't take the garbage etc etc, and everyone loses. I didn't throw out a single thing my first week because I was just so terrified of getting it wrong. This is system also makes for an aggravating journey though public places (specifically train stations) to find trash bins. Of which there are 0. I think trash bins in public places make it onto my top five list of Things Taken for Granted in My Life.
Reading food labels is also a big one. There's little more frustrating than wandering around a grocery store and not being able to recognize anything outside eggs and the odd banana. Same goes for menus and cooking directions. Cooking even really easy instant crap is still a pain when you can't read the kanji for 'boil'.
Maybe I should tell a story or something to make this more interesting. I don't really have any great ones yet, but I can sum up what I've done so far. The pictures some of you might have seen (most notably my current facebook profile pic) were for the most part taken at Kiyomizu Dera (-mizu dera = water temple). This was a very cool place on top of a very big hill in Kyoto. The view was really fantastic. It had many fountains where you were supposed t cup the water with this big ladle thing and then pour it over your hands or drink it. There were also a lot of shrines where you could pray/make wishes, and also a few awesome sounding bell-gong things you could ring. You could also buy these little fortunes, and at the very top there was an entire area devoted to love and romantic fortunes etc. There were a LOT of giggly girls. I was not of them, but it was kind of neat to watch. After the temple we went and ate desert at this little restaurant with the same amazing view. I got green tea ice cream with mochi and red beans. I tell you, the Japanese and I share a similar sweet tooth.
And after that I had my first taste of the nihon karaoke scene. This is something everyone should do. You sit in a small room with your friends and sing really loudly and watch strange, so-completely-unrelated-to-the-song-you're-singing-that-it's-maybe-a-bit-distracting footage on the television screen. And of course you order drinks and dessert stuffs non-stop (though that makes it all a tad more expensive). People do that for hours and hours, sometimes the whole night.
Since then I've done some other things, mostly exploring Hirakata-shi (the downtown Hirakata area) and bits of Osaka (which is huge and terrifying and I haven't the courage to go alone ever.). Maybe I'll talk about these things later. For now I think I'll try to post some pictures of the area (which I will take as soon as it quits raining -_-)
Ja ne.
~ze gaijin fish.